Distraction: the enemy of action

The daily commute can often get repetitive and could tempt you to look to your car for entertainment. A favourite song may come to mind or even the thought of calling someone from a hand held mobile phone to pass time. Here are some driving tips to avoid distractions from IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards, Richard Gladman.

Most crashes actually happen close to home, so ensure familiarity does not breed contempt by keeping your focus. Glancing away from the road ahead even for a few seconds can make you miss that vital clue of a dangerous situation developing

Multi-tasking is a myth – even the shortest phone call or text is taking your attention away from the road, so talking on the phone whilst driving is a big ‘no’. Even though you may have devices in place such as bluetooth headsets or hand free these can be very distracting and we recommend not using devices such as these. If you can’t stop yourself using the smartphone put it in the boot!

Avoid smoking when driving. It is very easy for hot ash to get everywhere and cause accidents

Eat and drink at home. Eating and drinking on the road not only takes your eyes off the road but dropped food or spilt drinks don’t mix with smooth driving

Distracted drivers swerve from lane to lane, drive too close to the car in front or react too slowly. All of these actions can bring you to the attention of the police who can issue a careless driving ticket at the roadside – as well as being a danger to other road users

Get your playlist ready before you set off for your journey. This limits the amount of fiddling with music and audio controls or trying to plug in loose wires. Even consider a drive without music you may enjoy it

Richard said: “If you take your driving seriously then it limits the chances of distraction. Processing all the information from around your vehicle, taking up the right position on the road and making smooth progress are more than enough to occupy all your brain power. The best drivers can predict risky situation well before they can cause a problem. Allowing yourself to be distracted completely undermines that skill.”

Notes to editors:

Richard Gladman is IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards.

IAM RoadSmart has a mission to make better drivers and riders in order to improve road safety, inspire confidence and make driving and riding enjoyable. It does this through a range of courses for all road users, from online assessments through to the advanced driving and riding tests. IAM RoadSmart is the trading name of all businesses operated by the UK’s largest road safety charity, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and was formed in April 2016 combining the IAM, IAM Drive & Survive, PDS and IAM Driver Retraining Academy. The organisation has 92,000 members and campaigns on road safety on their behalf. At any one time there are over 7,000 drivers and riders actively engaged with IAM RoadSmart’s courses, from members of the public to company drivers, while our Driver Retraining Academy has helped 2,500 drivers to shorten their bans through education and support programmes.

To find out more about IAM RoadSmart products and services visit the new website www.iamroadsmart.com